


Betrayed

by days4daisy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (Sort of...it's Loki after all), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Captivity, Extra Treat, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Avengers (2012), Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-03 03:59:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19455892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/days4daisy/pseuds/days4daisy
Summary: One planet and one person. This is all Loki asked Thanos for.





	Betrayed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wednesday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wednesday/gifts).



> I hope you have a nice MCUEx, wednesday!

They chain Thor inside what remains of Grand Central Station. It seems fitting, what with the grand central-ness of the place. They chuckle about the name, Loki and Thanos’ children who arrive on Midgard after the battle. The city's remains burn in the aftermath.

The humans' nuclear device was an impressive desperation move. Its repercussions are still felt by the sad few mortals that survive. Acid rains from skies that never seem to show sun. Thick smog blankets the streets, tasting of dust and ruin so bitter that even Loki must cough. 

With New York and the Avengers taken, the Other sets his sights on subduing more cities. London. Paris. Tokyo. Moscow. There, he will follow his master’s bidding and cut each population in half. Those who survive may live so long as they swear loyalty to the great Titan Thanos. Or to Loki, of course. It is Loki who will rule over the disgusting remains of this planet.

Thanos arrives within weeks with his favorite daughter Gamora. There is something off about her and her...lack of enthusiasm. It is a treasonous thought Loki would have gladly shared with his benefactor before now. If only he still cared. Loki has what he wants. A crown and his own world to lord over. Thor’s precious Earth, now Loki's alone.

Loki cannot say what becomes of the other self-proclaimed Avengers. The Chitauri round them up and await Thanos’ arrival. Thanos personally sees to their fate. Loki does not. As asked, he stays at the Grand Station and shows Ebony Maw its layout and safeguards. 

Thor is not among his pathetic humans when they become the property of Thanos. Loki knew he would not be. Thor was part of Loki’s bargain. In exchange for his fealty, Earth was to be Loki’s, as was what remained of Thor.

They do not chain Thor on the upper level of Grand Central. Its main platform is half-roofed, as if something has taken a bite of it. Loki's boots tap along its cracked tiles, and he smiles. How important these mortals must have felt filling this once-mighty hall. Clamoring like ants at busy booths. Tripping over each other to catch their technologically infantile transportation. 

They chain Thor deep below ground. Loki descends crude concrete steps, each one lined with rubber-plated buttons. He descends so far that he no longer catches a whiff of the outside air on his nose. It becomes clogged with the grime in the tunnels. Train platforms, they were called. Grand Central is a catacomb, one dirty trap built on top of the next. These humans are no better than the rats that swarm below ground. Thanos has done them a service by removing half of their population. He will do the same on all realms until all that remains is a grateful universe.

A shiver rolls down Loki’s spine.

The electricity does not work on the lowest level of this pit. Sparks flare from a damaged wire dangling vine-like from the ceiling. Loki snaps his fingers. A single flame of emerald light rises from their tips.

They chain Thor between two blue posts. It is as if the humans painted them to make their ugliness palatable. Black signs with white text ghost beyond the range of Loki’s light. ‘Grand Central - 42nd Street’ How meaningless this all is now.

It would have been silly once to believe these meager human creations could hold Thor. But Mjolnir is far beyond his brother’s reach now. Thanos thought beyond even Loki’s most clever ideas. During Loki’s grooming, Thanos became intimate with the details of Thor’s life. His arrogance. His strength. Thanos came to know Thor, and Thor’s importance to Loki. The value of revenge for his captive, like gold dangled above a beggar.

“He will be yours, little one,” Thanos promised, his mighty hand on Loki’s head. “Only yours. If you do not fail me.” Loki knew what he had to gain if he succeeded, and what he had to lose if he failed.

It has been days since Loki last descended to this pit. Drops of water echo through vermin-filled tunnels. Loki hears the patter of dirty feet and Chitauri guards mumbling from the stairwell. He does not, however, hear Thor until he is close enough to touch him. Thor’s breaths are shallow things pulled between cracked lips. 

Thor is naked and on his knees. Chains around his wrists spread his arms wide. They also bind Thor's power, engraved in some language that Loki had never seen before now. “The Maw’s handiwork,” Thanos confided with amusement. “It's astonishing what power this universe holds. Power to subdue even the mightiest of gods.”

Thor’s back is a mess of broken skin and dried blood. This is Loki’s handiwork but yet another of Thanos’ fine ideas.

It was Thanos’ arrival day and the coronation of Loki’s kingship. It was also the commencement of Thor’s place as a monument within the world he once loved. Thor, blustering, was stripped out of his armor. He was still proud enough to fight on that day. Thor’s mouth bled from punches by the time the Chitauri forced him to kneel before Thanos. Loki waited eagerly for Thor to look him in the eye. Thor never did.

“For your first act,” Thanos said. With an understanding smile, he handed Loki the whip. It was a fantastic thing, spikes on a bouquet of black leather tongues. “It is time to seize your destiny, Asgardian. Punish the traitor you once called your brother.”

Asgardian, Thanos called him. Not that wretched monster race that only lives due to Thor’s incompetence. Loki was so close, _so close_ , to ridding the Nine of their cursed species for good. 

It was with a giddy laugh that Loki took his place behind his brother. His eyes devoured the tension of Thor's shoulders and the slope of his mighty back. The nervous flex of Thor’s ass and the brush of hair over his neck. Loki’s beautiful, wretched brother.

It only bothered Loki after that Thor never screamed. He grunted, groaned, and sagged in his chains. But Thor never gave Loki the satisfaction of whimpering for mercy. Thor simply took, and took, and took as a lifetime of pain rained upon his back.

Thor should have long since healed, but his skin remains broken from Loki’s purge.

Loki puts on a smile and steps around Thor’s kneeling body. How Thor’s arms must ache from being stuck in this awful pose, how his knees must burn and his neck must scream. “Hello, brother,” Loki greets, green cape whirling behind him. “I trust you’ve been treated...well…”

Thor stares straight ahead, no acknowledgment of Loki’s presence. In this light, his eyes seem gray as polluted water. Their slow blink is one of very few signs that he still lives.

“You’ve certainly seen better days,” Loki acknowledges. He is quick to reform his smile. “Would you like to hear of events up above while you’ve squandered in this pit? More cities fall every day on your precious Earth. They bow to me now, the humans you love so much. They look to me as a benevolent god who will pick up the pieces of their miserable planet. Just think - an entire population cut in two! Can you image the freedom of such a proposition? These mortals pack themselves in like rats, scrambling over each other to have a shred of food to eat. How grateful they will be when they come to see the prize awaiting them. Freedom, _true_ freedom. What relief they’ll feel one day!”

It’s not entirely true. Not yet anyhow. But one must learn fear before there is acceptance. The humans mourn for their pathetic Avengers, and they cry for a life that once was. The smoldering remains of this city will be proof that beauty can indeed rise from the ashes. 

Loki tells himself this when elders struggle to kneel as he passes. As a child jolts from crying over an ash-covered body and quickly prostrates to the concrete. As a mother hugs her whimpering babe to her chest, her wet eyes wide with panic over what her new king may do. 

Loki does nothing, of course. A whimpering child will sprout to become an appreciative minion. So thankful when they understand the sacrifices made to create paradise.

“Have you come to kill me?” Thor asks.

Loki blinks at the question.

After a moment, he tsks. “Those Chitauri fools, have they not been hydrating you as I asked? You sound disgusting. Here.” With a snap, a mug of water appears in his hand. “Drink.” Loki pushes it to Thor’s lips.

Water sloshes right back out of Thor’s mouth, spilling down his chest and dribbling to his thighs. With a frustrated sigh, Loki grabs a fist of Thor’s hair. It hangs tangled and oily about Thor’s face. Loki wrenches Thor’s head back. Thor gasps.

With a smirk, Loki tips the water into Thor’s mouth. “There we are. Don’t say I never do anything for you.”

Water trickles down Thor’s tongue. He blinks slowly up at Loki, and his throat gives a labored bob. At once, his eyes widen with panic. Thor twists away, gagging. His chains rattle with the strength of his coughs, each one tearing his throat like sandpaper. Water spittles off his chapped lips. He hangs his head against an arm. 

Loki stands a safe distance away from Thor’s sputtering. “What’s the matter with you?” Loki demands. “The mighty Thor, not even able to handle a few drops of water?”

“Please.” Thor whispers. “If you ever loved me, brother, even a little.”

Scowling, Loki waves away the water. “Please _what_?”

“Let it be over,” Thor says. He raises sluggish eyes. “Please.”

A laugh of disbelief barks from Loki. “How pathetic are you?” he crows. “ _You_! Begging me to end your life! What would your father say? Or Mother? Or - oh yes, your great ancestors filling the halls of Valhalla? What would they say to see _you_ , Odinson, begging me to release you from this cage of your own making?”

Thor says nothing. With a grimace, he closes his eyes.

“Oh no,” Loki says. “No, no. It’s too soon, brother. You’ve felt nothing of suffering yet, of loss. You know nothing of what I’ve seen, what he’s _made me_ see. You are my trophy for a job well done. You, and what remains of this world you love more than you ever loved me.”

With a snap of fingers, Loki removes himself from the sad remains of his brother. Under clouds of nuclear waste, Loki smiles.

***

Loki does not see Thor for a time.

There is much to do on a world thrown into disarray. With the Chitauri under Loki's command, obedience begins to take shape. From a cloud of decay and disruption, Loki begins to see how his infantile planet's future will be written. How this city and others will rebuild. How grateful they will be for their king who established peace at the height of chaos.

But, Loki begins to doubt. 

For one, there is the matter of the extreme fragility of humans. The toll of their own nuclear device is no longer limited to New York. Its poison spreads, slaughtering thousands not butchered by Thanos' culling.

Rebuild? How can Loki force the humans into the hard labor of rebuilding when so few are healthy enough to stand? They shudder when they see him, cowering with sores covering their malnourished bodies.

What method is there to feed these miserable wretches? The problem grows dire in other cities too, but nowhere is more critical than in New York. This is a personal slight to Loki, for New York was to be the site of his great palace. He likes the idea of waking every morning to a thriving city built on the remains of a life that was.

Loki alone cannot call on seidr strong enough to clear toxins and replenish the food supply. The mortals will have to work, but they physically cannot. Perhaps Thor would be of use. Thor, with Mjolnir at his side, could help to clear the poison from Earth's atmosphere. The thought makes Loki snort.

There is also the matter of the Other. While Thanos takes his leave after a job well done, the Other does not allow Loki sole lordship over the Earth. He stays, no estimate given as to when he will depart.

The Other does nothing without the blessing of his Master. This means, even after this victory, Thanos does not trust Loki. The thought chills Loki to the bone.

The Other pops into Loki's mind with tales of many other cities subdued. His most impressive accomplishment is Wakanda, a city more advanced than any other. The hidden population succeeds in subduing the Chitauri for a time. But they, too, are not enough, and their impressive lot is rounded up for halving.

The Other grills Loki on his progress at every turn. What of the survivor uprising? What progress in rebuilding New York? The Other demands that Loki venture outside the city and see more of this planet he will soon lord over.

Soon? Loki is to be Midgard's king _now._

Thor did tell Loki, did he not? "You think this madness will end with your rule?" Loki does hate when Thor is right.

It is weeks later when Loki descends into the bowels of Grand Central Station in search of his brother.

Loki is in a foul mood. His doubts continue to grow, and they no longer stem from the continued presence of the Other. It is not the sad state of Midgard either, but the restlessness of the Chitauri. In the early days of the planet's downfall, the foul creatures followed Loki's commands.

Now that these commands are Loki's own and not the parroted will of Thanos, the Chitauri are slow to obey. At first, it seemed a general shirking of responsibility. But now, the Chitauri chitter when Loki commands them. It's as if they are mocking him, the brutes!

Loki storms down the concrete steps, eager for a target who cannot defy his anger. He is also eager to see Thor. Eager, and nervous.

Loki casts his light spell on the lowest platform. Rats scatter in alarm. The air tastes of mold. Fitting given the splotches devouring walls spelling out "42nd Street."

Thor's body no longer fits the model of a defiant prisoner. Before, Thor’s back was straight with his knees planted on the floor. Now, Thor hunches awkwardly, favoring his left side.

Loki freezes when he sees Thor's hair. The golden mane Thor boasted of his whole life is no more. His hair has been reduced to jagged odds and ends. 

Thor's loss of his beloved locks should be amusing. Loki himself would have lobbed it off could he get close enough in their youth. But a warrior's hair is a source of pride among their people - Thor's people, rather. Thor took time to grow and groom it, to wear it as a symbol of his royal house.

His hair was for Loki to remove should he have felt vindictive enough. Not for - who did this? The Other? Those Chitauri cockroaches?

Thor's whip wounds have not healed in the weeks of Loki's absence. Each broken welt has scabbed over, and angry red swelling surrounds them. Dried blood curls around Thor's ass like a lover's fingers.

Thor's front is no less ghastly than his back. His once pristine chest is now a mess of shallow blade wounds. Some are fresh, blood still shining on their surface. Others must be a few weeks old, crusted over with ugly brown scars. 

It's clear that repeated orders to feed and hydrate Thor were not followed. Thor's stomach is all ribs, and he wheezes every time he breathes. His eyes are closed, and his head sags against his good arm. His right arm bears a ring of ugly purple bruising around the bicep. A bone break. They've broken the arm Thor favors with Mjolnir.

A crude blue cloth fills Thor’s mouth. His face bears bruises under both eyes and on the left side of his jaw. Loki brushes the greasy hair slumped over Thor's forehead.

He isn't expecting Thor's eyes to snap open.

Wild with panic, Thor tries to jerk away. His blue eyes look like fog in the sickly light. Thor's chains rattle violently and snap his weakened body back into place. Thor howls behind the cloth like a beaten animal.

Loki immediately sees why. It isn't just Thor's arm. They've broken his right leg as well. Snapped it halfway up his thigh. It's why Loki found Thor's body slumped so carefully to one side upon his arrival.

Thor shudders in his chains. The metal titters like nervous windchimes. Tears spill down his face, disrupting the layer of grime on his malnourished skin.

Loki looks upon his brother, his heart and body trembling. His mouth slips open. For once, he is utterly speechless.

Thor was to be Loki’s. Thanos promised him Midgard, and he promised him Thor. Loki would deliver the tesseract to Thanos and return the scepter. As Loki’s reward, he would become the king he was always destined to become. And his brother would belong to him and him alone.

One planet and one person. This is all Loki asked for. Loki glares down at Thor, fury bleeding into his eyes.

How dare they. These wretched creatures, suited only to staining the soles of Loki's boots. How dare they lay hands on Thor. How dare they sully a son of Odin without Loki's permission. Thor and Loki are gods. They are the sun and the storm. Centuries of memory and power and rage.

How dare they.

Fury winds like snakes around Loki's hands. The cold certainty of blades fills Loki’s hands.

Loki glares at the chains Thor wears. Powerful enough to subdue a god. To subdue Thor. And Loki, no doubt, when Thanos thought the time right. Thanos showed Loki power beyond his wildest dreams. Worlds Loki only grazed in Asgard’s many tomes. But in showing Loki the infinite, Thanos shrouded what was right before Loki’s face.

Liar. Loki will slay the beast with his own hand.

When Loki strikes, the warded chains remain around Thor's wrists. The posts of old Grand Central that hold them, however, fall in two clean strikes. They clatter to the rusted tracks below.

Thor's naked body crumples to the platform floor. He moans behind his gag.

Loki kneels beside him, his glare on the warded chains. "Come, brother," he says quietly. "We cannot stay here."

***

When Thor wakes, he cannot see. 

He opens his eyes to light, blinding and potent. Thor groans and squeezes his eyes shut. He has a piercing headache. The kind that rattles a brain like a babe's toy. Every breath he takes feels inhaled through a bed of knives.

Weakly, Thor lifts a hand. He has freedom of movement, but a chain still clanks around his wrist.

With a grunt, Thor attempts to raise his head. He cannot, but his failure leads to new understanding. Thor cannot lift his head, but there is something for him to lift his head from. He is lying down, not chained on his knees. Something has happened.

Thor paws at his chest. There is something on top of him. A blanket maybe, or - no, it's a touch damp and cool. The soft scent of lavender rises to Thor's nose. Confused and aching as Thor is, his drowsiness becomes overwhelming.

Perhaps Thor is dying.

In his disgrace, Thor will never be welcomed into the halls of Valhalla. But perhaps the Norns take pity on unfortunate wretches. Thor will never join the All-Fathers in glory, but he can have this fleeting comfort before his end.

A smile touches Thor's lips. He lets himself drift into this sleepy haze. Warm and safe beyond the pain of this life and the next. Lazily, Thor traces fingers over the dampness cooling his chest.

"Don't touch those." A smacked hand breaks Thor's calm. "Lie still, unless you're trying to die like a sad, pathetic mortal."

Loki? 

Thor’s head is heavy, but he tries again to lift it. He cannot make out Loki’s face, but the shape of his brother’s form is familiar. Loki’s head is down, dark hair cascading about his face. He is looking at something. A book, or - Thor is not sure. 

Thor is not dead, it seems. But his brother has yet another punishment in store for him. What will it be this time? The whip again. The knives. The starvation. The thirst. Something more degrading than even the shearing of his hair?

Tears burn in Thor’s bloodshot eyes. He must be weary beyond the limits of his weakened body for the loss of his hair to injure him so. Thor thinks of his father looking upon him now, every shred of his pride stripped. Unworthy, Thor thinks. Unworthy then, proven so now. A fool, a coward, and a blemish upon his house. Unable to save the brother Thor loved so dearly. Unable to save this beautiful world.

There is only one reason why Loki would take Thor from the darkness of that terrible pit. The time has come at last.

“Loki, I wronged you." Thor's voice is barely audible. "For that, I'm sorry.” 

Bleary though Thor’s vision is, he makes out the way Loki’s form goes still. Loki's downturned head cocks ever slightly to listen.

If this is to be Thor’s final chance, he will do what he can. The grand halls will not await Thor. He will not even be granted the formality of a warrior funeral, no longer deserving of the great pyre. Thor only has this moment. He wets his chapped lips.

“I’m glad it will be you, brother. I’m glad it will be you and not him. Let this ending quiet your anger, brother.” His voice cracks with thirst.

“Thor-”

“Please, Loki.” Thor shivers with effort. “The humans are in pain. There is beauty in what they are. I saw them as you do once. Meek and tiny, meant to be subservient to our kind. They are so much more, Loki. Take care of them. Please. If what you said is true, if- if Thanos has truly culled their masses, they’ll be so very frightened. If you ever-”

“Oh, stop it,” Loki snaps. He shuts his book - a book it is, then - with an emphatic slam. “If I ever loved you, is that what you're going to say? If I _ever loved you_?” Thor sees Loki clearer, the snarl of his thin lips and the narrowness of his eyes. “For all your apologies, for your little dashes of humility, you’ve never understood. If I ever loved you? I _adored_ you, and it was my undoing! Where am I now for it? Where are we now?”

Thor lets his eyes sink shut. “We're both fucked, that’s where we are.”

Silence hangs between them.

It breaks when Loki laughs. Not with cruelty or madness. Loki laughs as Thor’s brother once laughed. It makes Thor’s heart ache with longing for days past.

“Good, brother,” Loki says quietly. “I suppose we are.”

Thor lets the sound wash over him. He should be angry, he knows this. He should hate Loki with every final bit of strength in his body. But this weak, this near the end, Thor only feels wistful for what could have been. What he had once, or thought he had, only to realize it was never truly his.

“I’m ready,” Thor tells him. 

Loki sighs. “I’m not killing you, Thor,” he says. Thor’s heart falls to his stomach.

What exactly Thanos did to Loki, Thor does not know. He has guesses. Assumptions that make what little power Thor still harbors boil in his veins.

The simple act of nodding makes sweat rise to Thor’s forehead. He sucks down a breath. “How long do we have before he comes?” Thor asks.

“Shut up,” Loki replies.

What lies beyond life for cowards unfit to join the great halls of Thor’s ancestors? Will it be Hel, with its deep darkness? Or will Thor find nothing on the other side? An endless field under the shine of a single moon?

Thor steels himself. “If you ever see Mother again,” he whispers, “tell her-”

“You’re not going to die, you ridiculous ox!” Loki shouts out of nowhere. “You are going to lie still and be silent until I figure out how to remove these blasted chains. Then, you will call upon Mjolnir and rid this world of the toxins of your humans' own making. Then, brother mine.” Foggy though Thor’s eyes are, he makes out Loki’s crooked smile. “You and I kill the one responsible for our degradation.”

Thor stares at his brother's blurry shadow. “Why?” he asks.

“Why?” Loki echoes mockingly. “I just said I want to free you, heal you, save these stupid creatures you love so much, and kill the one responsible. Are these not good ideas?”

“You _caused_ this!” Thor immediately regrets the rise of his volume. It burns in his chest and makes new sweat run down his face. Thor blinks through black spots threatening to overtake his vision. “You wanted it,” he adds quietly. “This is what Thanos promised you, isn’t it? The chance to kill me. The chance to destroy Earth. Why kill the one who delivered on your bargain?”

“This wasn’t our bargain,” Loki hisses. He tosses aside his book and moves close enough that Thor is able to make out his face. There is anger in his eyes, sharp as the points of his favorite knives.

Something has changed in them, though. Something that does not look like the gleeful desperation of Loki during the Battle of New York.

Thor frowns up at him. “Brother, I don’t understand.”

Loki smiles back, wry and small. “You never do,” he says. Two fingers press to Thor’s temple. Softly, tender, like the caress of a lover.

Darkness comes sweet and sudden, and Thor knows nothing still.

*The End*


End file.
